Stand-up Paddleboarding in a Country That Doesn’t Even Exist!

Transnistria

Sep 27

A COUNTRY THAT DOESN'T EVEN EXIST!

A tiny strip of land which lies between Moldova and Ukraine, known as Transnistria, is home to 500,000 people, mostly of Russian ethnicity. There was a brief civil war here 30 years ago, and you can still see damaged buildings in the city of Bender where the worst of the fighting took place. Following a Russian-brokered ceasefire, Transnistria declared its independence from Moldova, although no other countries in the world recognise Transnistria as an independent state.

Transnistria has its own government, police, military, currency, passports and border control but, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, it doesn't even exist.

In many respects, this unique place harks back to the old Soviet Union era. Transnistria is the only country in the world that still has a hammer and sickle on its flag, and you can see a huge statue of Vladimir Lenin in front of the government buildings.

The statue of Lenin standing in front of the Government Buildings in Tiraspol, Transnistria.

As soon as I heard about this unusual part of the world, I knew I had to paddle here, particularly when I discovered that the Dniester River runs between the two largest cities in Transnistria, Bender and Tiraspol. Although these two cities are less than 10 km apart, the meandering river covers more than 20 km between them. Perfect for a one-day SUP tour in Transnistria.

I spent two nights in the Hotel Sofia in Tiraspol and one full day on the river. A few Transnistrian Rubles took care of a taxi from Tiraspol to Bender and I quickly found a suitable spot to get on to the water, just downstream from the main road bridge and Bendery Fortress.

My stand-up paddle down the Dniester was uneventful in itself, save for one strange and disturbing incident.

As any paddler or boating enthusiast will know, it is normal to paddle on the right-hand side of a waterway, so that is what I did as I set off from the river bank in Bender. Less than 30 minutes into my trip, I passed what appeared to be a disused and rusted boat to my right. Just as I was passing, a soldier suddenly appeared on top of the boat, urgently and aggressively demanding that I move away from the boat. As I don’t speak Russian, I had no idea what he was saying, but I had no hesitation in following his instructions. I could hear him shouting, aggressively it seemed to me, as I continued downstream, but I didn’t look over my shoulder or turn around.

What was he shouting, I wondered nervously.

‘Have a nice day’ perhaps, or ‘Stop or I’ll shoot!’ Who knows.

‘Keep paddling, John,’ I said to myself, ‘he’s not going to shoot you!’

And of course he didn’t. I lived to write this blog!

The river was quiet for most of my journey. Green trees on either side as I paddled along flat water. I saw some rowers as I left Bender and some more as I was approaching Tiraspol. The only other water user I saw all day was an open water swimmer at Tiraspol Beach

I reached the small city beach at Tiraspol earlier than I expected, and I was somewhat disappointed to be getting off the water so soon. But I felt satisfaction at achieving what may have initially seemed an impossible dream. I’m not sure if anyone else has ever completed this trip on a SUP board, but I suspect not.